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I wanted to scream with excitement that my daughter chose to write about her ambition and aspirations over everything else first. To me, this was one of those parenting 'win' moments.
My daughter turned eight years old in January, and among the various gifts she received from friends and family was an absolutely beautiful personal journal for self-growth. A few days ago, she was exploring the pages when she found a section for writing a letter to her future self. She found this intriguing and began jotting down her thoughts animatedly.
My curiosity piqued and she could sense it immediately. She assured me that she would show me the letter soon, and lo behold, she kept her word.
I glanced at her words, expecting to see a mention of her parents in the first sentence. But, to my utter delight, the first thing she had written about was her AMBITION. Yes, the caps here are intentional because I want to scream with excitement that my daughter chose to write about her ambition and aspirations over everything else first. To me, this was one of those parenting ‘win’ moments.
Do I really need to explain why it is such a big deal when girls prioritise their ambition and own it? For long, ‘ambitious’ has largely been considered as an adjective with a negative connotation for women.
So many fictional stories in pop culture, including books as well as movies, have further perpetuated this notion over the years and cemented this perception. In fact, when I recall some of these stories today, I understand and empathize with the female characters that were villainized for choosing their careers at the crossroads of their lives. When a man is ambitious, he is given a pat on the back for his dedication and professionalism, but when a woman is ambitious, she is often discouraged or mocked for not being ‘domestic’ enough, or is also viewed as ‘aggressive’ or ‘power-hungry’ at times.
However, I am glad that we now have several women role models and leaders to look up to and get inspired by for having walked the talk. They have demonstrated their brilliance in their respective fields and have also created a significant impact on the society. These are the stories we need to share with our young girls. These are the journeys we need to write about for future generations to read. We need to acknowledge and appreciate that a woman who is passionate about her career can very well do justice to her personal life and relationships like any individual can for that matter.
An ambitious woman does not mean a selfish woman.
An ambitious woman does not mean a homewrecker.
An ambitious woman does not mean an aggressive woman.
An ambitious woman definitely does not mean an insensitive woman.
Let’s celebrate them today!
Image source: a still from the film Piku
Multiple award winning blogger, influencer, author, multi-faceted entrepreneur, creative writing mentor, choreographer, social activist and a wanderer at heart read more...
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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